Tuesday, November 10, 2009

One's Redemption

Hello everyone. After recently reading one of my favorite runner-blogger posts, this post needed to be written.

All of us who have been running have had an off race or a bad day. We're human. The greats from Haile Gebrselassie to Michael Johnson to Grete Waitz to Paula Radcliffe have had them.

Recently, in reading some of the blog entries, some of my running-blogging friends have experienced just that.

Also, some have had some redemption like my friend Bards in the Philippines. Her performance in the ING New York City Marathon was an inspiring one for all of us. I know that I've congratulated her on her blog and will again congratulate her here.

Reading about Roselle (Running Diva), finding out about Dennis (Running Fatboy), and the two running and completing their first marathons is an inspiration as well. Dennis and Per setting a PR in the U.S. Half was inspiring!

For those who have had an off day recently, I've encouraged them to keep enduring. There will be better days ahead, believe me!

Anyway, the experience at the Silicon Valley Marathon a couple of weeks ago was a mixed one. Though I completed the first marathon run since 2005, the time wasn't what was hoped for. With the training and sacrifice, qualifying for Boston wasn't in the cards.

Yet, after posting the blog entry, I received a couple of e-mails mentioning that maybe I ought to stop running marathons and one that I should stop running competitively.

Obviously, it got to my head for a few hours but eventually, I printed a copy of the e-mails and have them on the bulletin board. They're still there as this post is being done as a reminder. The same day of the e-mails, I learned that I would be scheduled off on the weekend of the U.S. Half and immediately signed up. Having my friends from the Philippines and Seattle was relaxing as well. Yet, there were still some doubts on whether I could still run competitvely.

The redemption came 1:39:50 after the start of the U.S. Half Marathon. That morning, the fire was in the eyes and I was focused. However, the confidence came back during the last workout the previous Friday when I ran the last three miles of the course during a five mile training run.

Since the U.S. Half, I've been planning next year and what races I would like to do. Definitely, the full schedule is not out yet for 2010 but there are several races already on the calendar. Recently, I added a 32K race in November that I'll be doing while on vacation in the Philippines. That is a must!